Transgender People with Epilepsy

It is estimated that between 150,000 and 450,000 transgender people have epilepsy.

“Gender affirming health care” involves hormonal and other treatments to match a person’s physical/physiological sex characteristics with their identified gender.

Hormone treatments may impact seizure frequency.

Potential interactions between seizure medications and other treatments, including hormone treatments, antidepressants, and antiretroviral medications, should be monitored.

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

It is estimated that 0.3% to 0.9% of the world’s population (age 15 and older) identifies as transgender, for a total of about 25 million people. If the prevalence of epilepsy in this population is the same as the prevalence in the general population, we can assume that between 150,000 and 450,000 transgender people also have epilepsy.

A recent literature review1 highlights unique challenges faced by this group of people and is summarized here.

“Gender affirming health care” involves hormonal and other treatments to match a person’s physical/physiological sex characteristics with their identified gender.

Transmen (female-to-male transgender people) use testosterone and other treatments to suppress menstruation and decrease estrogen levels.

Transwomen (male-to-female transgender people) use anti-androgen treatments to suppress testosterone production in addition to estrogen therapy.

Many antiepileptic drugs (AEDs, also known as seizure medicines) have potential interactions with hormone treatments, so therapeutic adjustments may be necessary.